WEST POINT — Nowhere is there more hope for change than the Army hockey locker room.

The Black Knights are coming off their worst season (4-23-7) in 61 years. It was a team that did not live up to its own expectations, with a lineup that was ever-changing due to a spate of injuries. Opponents nearly doubled Army's anemic offensive production. Worse yet, Army failed to win a single home game, aside from an exhibition against a storied rival.

Naturally, the Black Knights are eager to leave the past behind and move on.

"One of the analogies we use in the locker room is, 'Open up the window and throw everything out,' '' said senior Andy Starczewski. "We're going to start from scratch.''

The task has certainly been made easier with the graduation of 11 seniors and an incoming freshman class of 13 players who have no ties to the past struggles.

"The new guys that we have coming in this year bring a lot of energy to the team,'' said senior goalie Ryan Leets. "I think when you have this many new guys coming to a team, it's definitely easier to make a culture change, to change the identity of the team. You essentially have a bunch of clean slates coming in, especially for freshmen coming out of basic training. It's a lot easier to mold individuals.''

Seventh-year head coach Brian Riley has simplified the systems Army will employ this season. Three things that will be noticeable are getting pucks deeper into the offensive zone, a more aggressive forecheck and a return to more physical play, meaning more hits, more leaning on opposing forwards, tying up sticks and the like. It's not so much a sea shift in the way of doing things, more like an affirmation of strong-held Army hockey principles through the years.

Starczewski insists simplification does not mean the end to any offensive flair.

"We're not trying to harness creativity,'' he said. "In the offensive zone, we're going to use a lot of creativity and rely on our offensive talents, but at the same time, in the different zones, a lot of it is based on hard work and keeping it simple — in hockey terms that is moving the puck north to south, getting quicker transitions.''

The challenges are formidable. The Black Knights lost 32 of its woeful 65 goals to graduation, including the Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 7 scorers. Army gave up the first goal in 65 percent of its games last season, and was 1-18-3 when doing so. Army's shooting accuracy was less than 7 percent (65-for-997). The 13.2 percent power play success rate and 80.3 percent penalty kill were the worst figures by far over the past four seasons.

When Riley rolls out his lineup for Friday's season opener against Nebraska-Omaha, in the opening round of the IceBreaker tourney in Kansas City, Mo., he will be using seven freshmen among his top 12 forwards and two plebes among the six defensemen.

Riley likes his forward lines. He is counting on Starczewski to improve upon his 13-goal production of last season. He believes the line of Brian Schultz, R.J. Burns and Zak Zaremba will create opportunities with their speed. He likes the offensive instincts of the all-freshmen line of Willie Faust, Thane Heller and Joe Kozlak. Riley also believes his defensemen will be more active in the offense.

"I don't like the term 'low expectations,' but it's going to take a little bit of an adjustment,'' Riley said, his task not made easier with only six days of preseason practice. "Our goal, like it is every year, is hopefully through the experience that these young guys will get, when we hit stride hopefully in January and February, that we will be playing our best hockey.''